Nope, not doing the switch witch

As a fitspo, someone who lived on a strict diet with obsessive rules and tendencies, people are already asking me about my plan.

What am I going to do with the candy?

For some reason it’s about the candy.

Which is fine actually.

Halloween is fun. I am totally on board with everything that is fun about it. Especially for my kids.

We dress up (in costumes NOT made by me 🙂 usually from last year), go trick or treating and eat candy. It’s a great time.

Until we start to stress about the candy. Each year, around this time I start to see memes popping up on social media reminding us how many calories are in our favorite candies. Or telling me how many minutes of exercise it will take to burn if off.

PLEASE. Let’s NOT.

My message is always moderation. Even with Halloween and candy.

I teach my kids the same rules I live by. Balance and moderation with food. Alot of the “good” and a little of the “bad.” Ok so we don’t call food good or bad but to illustrate the idea.

Life is way to short to not indulge and eat good food. Not all food we choose is going to make us feel our best which is why it is limited.

So what about the candy?

There is this new thing going around (probably a Pinterest idea LOL) called the Switch Witch.

The idea is that all of the candy is “taken by the witch” to replace it for something better. A book, a toy, whatever. The point is that all the candy is “switched” out and the very next morning it’s gone. Another miracle for kids to believe until one day they realize and likely get pissed. Just kidding.

Ok, so let’s think this through. Kids go trick or treating, fill up their pumpkins or baskets with candy and then it’s gone.
WTF?

How does that make sense?

In my experience the switch witch is really a cop out for the mom. SHE doesn’t want the candy around so it’s easier to get it out of sight. You know the old diet days where people told you if you don’t want to eat it, just don’t buy it. ZERO trust around food. That would actually be work right? So because mom is likely on a diet or can’t trust herself around candy, let’s just pass that along to the kids.

This is just another reason why I despise all of the “stuff” nowadays with motherhood. Like when did taking all of our kids’ candy begin? Why is it cool to do this stuff now? Is taking it away our way of helping them understand that candy is “bad?”

Is it “bad” for them to actually sit and think about the candy they want to eat, choose 1-2 pieces, savor it and be done?

Maybe this is why the diet industry is a MULTI BILLION dollar industry? Because we aren’t taking time to teach our kids. In fact, by engaging in the Switch Witch, we are simply teaching them the all or nothing way. You either “eat it all” or you get none.

So then Halloween is over and they are left with a book. Awesome. I love books and I am all about Early Childhood Education but I am also about teaching our kids what they need to live a happy, healthy life.

It starts with us.

If we aren’t taking time to teach them how to make choices when it comes to food then we as moms are taking the easy way.

This is our job.

If they don’t learn it from us, then who is going to show them?

So no, I am not doing the Switch Witch. My family is not participating and it’s totally fine if others are. WE are just not because for us, it makes zero sense.

My kids will eat candy. On Halloween night and likely for a few days after. We will pick the good stuff. The stuff that we actually want. We will eat it together and talk about how it tastes. We will talk about how candy is one of those things that we eat in small amounts. And then we will donate it overseas to a cause to actual people.

What we won’t do is ban candy from the house. What we won’t do is say candy is “bad.”What we won’t do is have it magically disappear from a witch.

Life is too short. Enjoy some damn candy. And please teach them now. Now is the time so they don’t grow up with all of this “stuff” in their heads that is inevitably learned along the way. It doesn’t have to be that way. Not if we do it.

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